Construction works on Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric
dam located on the Zambezi River in Mozambique have officially kicked off. The
Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Augusto Fernando, said that
the works are to reinforce the amount of electricity being transported along
the Tete-Maputo line.
The deputy minister said the Mphanda Nkuwa
Hydroelectric Project Implementation Office now has a director and consultant
who will review the whole project, designed in 2008 by several consortia.
Fernando also said that the office will focus its activity on the feasibility
analysis of the project based on environmental and hydrological impact studies,
among other factors, and it is expected to be able to start and finish the
construction of this project within an estimated period of five years.
President Filipe Nyusi had on August 2018 said that
the Mpanda Nkuwa hydroelectric facility is a “structural undertaking” and
announced the end of the concession to the consortium led by Mozambican group
Insitec and Brazilian construction company Camargo Corrêa, with 40% each, along
with state-owned Electricidade
de Moçambique (EdM).
Nyusi also said that EdM and the Cahora Bassa
Hydroelectric Facility have the capacity and technical and financial skill to structure
the project, which will avoid obstruction and delay, on the one hand, and will
contribute to reducing its cost because it does not involve intermediaries, on
the other.
